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Job 38 · a question people ask

Does the LORD answer Job's question?

In the text

The book says he answers: "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind" (38:1). But he doesn't tell Job why he suffered, here or in chapters 39 to 41. His first words are a question, "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (38:2), and then, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" (38:4). Later he asks, "Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?" (40:8). Job answers, "therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know" (42:3), and "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you" (42:5). Then the LORD says to Eliphaz that he and his two friends "have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has" (42:7). The book sets these verses side by side and doesn't explain how they fit. These notes don't either.

The verses

“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind,”
Job 38:1 · World English Bible
““Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”
Job 38:2 · World English Bible
““Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.”
Job 38:4 · World English Bible
“Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?”
Job 40:8 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 38

Job 38: Where were you?

When the LORD at last answers Job out of the whirlwind, he doesn't tell him why he suffered. He asks him questions, from "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" (38:4) to "Who provides for the raven his prey" (38:41). And his "you answer me" (38:3) is in Hebrew a form of know, not of answer.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions